Mr Gamble launched “A Minute for
Madeleine” with a plea to internet
users to view the video and
disseminate it.
Harnessing the power of the viral
message is a new technique in an
investigation but the core idea of
the 60-second film is based on the
old detective’s adage that “everyone
has a best friend” and someone will
talk.
Madeleine was 3 years old when she
went missing on a family holiday in
Portugal in May 2007. The new video
contains “aged progressed” images of
how she might look today, aged 6.
One shows the girl with blonde hair,
while the other shows her with dark
hair and tanned skin, as she might
look if she was being held in a hot
country.
The message has gone online in seven
languages — English, Arabic,
Portuguese, Spanish, French, German
and Italian — and will be promoted
around the world by police forces,
missing persons agencies and
Interpol.
It
represents the first time that a
British law enforcement agency has
taken the lead in the international
hunt for the missing girl. Her
mother, Kate McCann, will conduct a
series of television interviews
today to promote the message.
Mr
Gamble stressed that the video was
not a public appeal but a message to
one person who knew or suspected
that someone close to them had taken
the child. “It’s aimed at prompting
the conscience of the person who is
keeping the secret,” Mr Gamble said.
“The person we are looking to reach
is likely to be a partner, family
member, friend or colleague of the
person or people who were involved
in Madeleine’s disappearance.” He
said he believed that the abductor
would be regularly checking the
internet for developments in the
investigation and would be “rattled”
by the video, which was prepared
with the help of psychologists.
Mr
Gamble said: “This is not the normal
criminal psychology approach. We’re
not looking at the criminal, but at
the associate and saying to them,
‘You can redeem yourself’.
“We believe there is someone out
there who is associated and who
knows. This person doesn’t need to
see an age progressed image of
Madeleine — this person knows who
Madeleine is and who committed the
crime.” Mr Gamble stressed that
there were no new leads, nor fresh
intelligence behind the launch of
the message. He added: “In a case
like this the investigation is never
closed”.
ABDUCTED ... AND FOUND
Natascha Kampusch was
abducted aged 10, in 1998 in Vienna.
She was found, aged 18, in 2006
Shawn Hornbeck was abducted
aged 11 in 2002 in Richwood,
Missouri, and held captive for more
than four years
Jaycee Lee Dugard was
abducted aged 11 in Lake Tahoe,
California in 1991 and found this
year aged 29
Sabine Dardenne was abducted
aged 12 in Belgium in May 2006 and
held for 80 days
Sano Fusako was abducted aged
10 in Narita, Japan, in 1990. She
was held captive for more than nine
years and found in 2000
Jeremiah Treanor was abducted
with his brother Marcuse at age 7 in
1980 in London. Held by a child
prostitution ring that carried out
38 kidnappings. Found alive in 1983.
His brother died
